Southington Ambulance Services To Expand At No Cost To Town

SOUTHINGTON, CT — When the town's ambulance contract expires at the end of the month, Southington will not only have a new ambulance provider, it will have expanded services as well.

And, following the Southington Town Council's approval at its last meeting, it won't cost taxpayers any more money next fiscal year.

The council May 22 voted 7-0 with one abstention (Victoria Triano, council chairperson) to hire Hartford Healthcare's Hunters Ambulance service for the next three years, supplanting the current provider, AMR Ambulance.

According to Bob Holdsworth of the Holdsworth Group, the town-hired emergency medical services and health care consultant, the issue was not about the quality and scope of services.

It was, he wrote to the council, a matter of cost.

Southington officials had upgraded the scope of services in the latest request for proposals, with only two companies — Hartford Healthcare and AMR — submitting bids.

Currently, the town's deal with AMR allows for two full-time ambulances for 24 hours, seven days a week and a third ambulance available Monday to Friday from noon to 8 p.m.

The new, improved deal, however, calls for three full-time ambulances covering town emergencies, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Local leaders said increased calls and demand necessitated the increased coverage.

"One of the things that we felt was most important to the residents of Southington was to try and procure more ambulance service time," said Southington Economic Development Director Louis A. Perillo III, also the town's acting chairman of the emergency medical services committee.

"Given the geographical dimentions of our town, the size and population, we feel that having three ambulances would better serve our community residents," Perillo said.

According to Holdsworth, there are about 6,800 calls for service annually, with about 4,800 transports and 56 percent of those transports being Medicare patients.

But, according to AMR's bid, expanding the scope of services would have cost the Town of Southington $2.6 million more.

Hartford Healthcare's bid, however, called for expanded coverage and no additional cost.

It was a no-brainer, according to Holdsworth, the town's EMS subcommittee and council members themselves.

"The responses are substantively the same, as are the providers, yet the price highly favors the selection of HHC-Hunters as the provider that is better suited to meet the community's needs and save taxpayers a substantial amount of money," wrote Holdsworth to the council.

Holdsworth is assisting the town in drafting a formal contract in time for the switchover later this month.

He said, meanwhile, that AMR will still provide services during any transition period prior to the new deal taking effect if a contract isn't finalized in time for month's end.

For the minutes of the March 22 Southington Town Council meeting, click on this link.